Last week, DEA personnel announced four arrests related to a marijuana shipment from Colorado Springs to Chicago. All the busts were made in Illinois, but a grow was destroyed near the Springs, and extraction expert Matt Schnur has been named in a related press account. What's Schnur's story? Activist Timothy Tipton fills us in.

"Matt is a longtime medical marijuana activist, starting almost a decade ago -- a brilliant and innovative mind who was focused on utilizing extraction technology," he says.

Tipton recalls that Schnur petitioned the Colorado Department of Health and Environment to add diabetes, a condition from which he suffers, to the list of treatable conditions for MMJ, and has been involved in other advocacy activities as well.

Schnur has also had a few run-ins with the law, adds Tipton, who hasn't been in a business relationship with him for a number of years. But he was still surprised by the mention of Schnur's name in the latest case, which involves an investigation into claims that marijuana was being shipped from Colorado Springs to Chicago.

According to the Colorado Springs Police Department, the DEA conducted surveillance in March of this year that led to the identification of several suspects. A vehicle was later identified and stopped; it contained eight pounds of marijuana. Later, what the agency refers to as "a controlled delivery" was arranged in Chicago. It resulted in several arrests, as well as the seizure of "money, guns and additional narcotics."

In June, Colorado Springs detectives identified a pair of homes they suspected were being used for marijuana cultivation and distribution -- one of them located at 2745 Oro Blanco Drive. More marijuana plants and processed marijuana were seized there. Then, earlier this month, another controlled delivery from Colorado Springs to Illinois was arranged, this time involving fifty pounds worth of pot. The arrests of Daniel Haggerty, Matthew M. Tunzi, Anthony M. Munizzi and Mary E. Miller soon followed. So, too, did the discovery of several grows on a 100-acre property in Elbert County, and the seizure of 140.5 pounds of refined marijuana.

What's the possible connection to Schnur? As reported by the Colorado Springs Gazette, the Oro Blanco address mentioned above was registered to Judith A. Schnur, who has a Chicago Ridge, Illinois mailing address. There's no confirmation of a connection between her and Matt, but Tipton says Schnur's father runs an automobile dealership in the Chicago area.